Chiefs Coordinator Quotes
October 17, 2024
ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE TOUB
Q: In the Super Bowl, you guys blocked a field goal against the 49ers. What did you see on that play and do you think you can do it again on Sunday?
TOUB: “(It was) just a normal week. Every week we emphasize getting a good push inside and getting your hands up every time because you never know when it could be a low kick. That happened to be just a little bit of a low kick and we had our hands up and Leo (Chenal) got his hand on it first and then it deflected off of Mike Danna’s hand, huge play ended up in that game. We always talk about that now (laughter), ever since then. I mean we talk about how important it is to get your hands up and get that good push.”
Q: It seems like more teams are returning the ball when they are one or two yards deep in the endzone. Are you seeing that too?
TOUB: “Yeah, because you don’t know if it’s going to be a touchback back or not and you don’t want to let the ball hit. So, anything around – like you got your eyes up and you can’t tell exactly where your feet are, so you’ll see teams – you’ll see guys catching it on the run and then coming out even though they’re one (or) two yards deep. That’s why that happens.”
Q: Was that an expectation going into the year?
TOUB: “Yeah, you have to be aggressive with it. You can’t just assume the ball is going to be a touchback. You have to go field it, you don’t want that ball to hit and then get the ball at the 20 (yard line) if it bounces in.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR STEVE SPAGNUOLO
OPENING STATEMENT: “Good to see you (the media) – beautiful day – weather’s changing a little bit, huh? It’s a great thing. I’ll just kind of open it up, I’m ready to go – bye week.”
Q: Why do you feel like your gameplan was as effective as it was last year against the 49ers?
SPAGNUOLO: “I don’t know. I think back and I always think we could’ve done a little bit better, Adam (Teicher). We did some good things, but I thought they – I mean, they kind of moved the ball. We played decent in the red zone. I’m trying to go back now. It was the trick play they got the score on, right? We were aided by the – early on they were moving the ball. It was really good to get that turnover in the first drive, that kind of helped us. I thought the guys played really hard. They were on point. We had two weeks to prepare. I really kind of just put it back on the players. They were just that hungry. Listen, this offense is still a headache to defend. I know they’re minus the running back (49ers RB Christian McCaffrey), but I think the guys that are plugged in there for him still make that whole system effective, so we’re going to have a pretty good challenge on this one too.”
Q: Could you explain how Chris Jones affects games without piling up big sack numbers?
SPAGNUOLO: “Well, you could – you saw it last week. The Saints, I think paid a lot of attention to Chris (Jones) in the way they protected in the pass game. That’s going to happen a lot, doesn’t happen all the time. Somehow we have to find a way for Chris to win a couple of those even when he’s doubled and when that does happen and they do choose to put a lot of attention on one guy, somewhere in there, somebody’s got a one-on-one, somebody’s got to step up and win and we’ve had a little bit of that, we’d like to have a little bit more of that. I think the other 10 guys on the field appreciate the fact that we have a guy like Chris that demands that kind of attention and possibly can open up something for somebody else.”
Q: How tough is it to combat a 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan offense?
SPAGNUOLO: “We’ve talked a lot about the whole eye candy. There’s a lot of movement up there for a reason, they get your eyes all over the place, they can disrupt support in run systems and that’s why they do it, they try to soften you up a little bit. We have a good group of guys that have worked well together. We need to do that all day long out there in San Francisco because all it does is take one missed fit and just any running back they put back there, but especially the number 24 (49ers RB Jordan Mason) has been doing a really good job of it. That’s what the system is built for, and we have to negate that by kind of being on point. I think our eyes are probably the biggest thing.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MATT NAGY
Q: What’s the expectations for Clyde Edwards-Helaire as he works his way back?
NAGY: “I don’t know, we’ll see. We’ll leave that up to (Head) Coach (Andy Reid), I’m sure he has a plan and that sort of thing. Clyde’s (Edwards-Helaire) been great in meetings, and we all know who Clyde is (and) what he can do. Again, I go back to who he is as a person and what he’s all about. I think it’s – we just have so much appreciation for him and (I’ll) just let that go with (Head) Coach (Andy Reid) and (General Manager Brett) Veach and let them play that out.”
Q: JuJu Smith-Schuster’s game last week was very good. What signs do you have that that is more repeatable rather than an outlier?
NAGY: “His (JuJu Smith-Schuster) experience in the league, his experience within this offense (and) his experience with Pat (Patrick Mahomes). There’s a trust factor there. I knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight or right away – and you don’t know how many more of those (big games) will happen but when you have a guy that is able to get in the right spots and you build that trust with a quarterback and JuJu has that. He’s been to the highest level with us and has had success and so it’s just a matter of ‘Okay, let’s get him in, let’s see what he does well, let’s fit that with what we do, let’s do what he does well in our offense and let it roll.’”
Q: Do you guys have a downhill type of mentality when running the football?
NAGY: “Yeah, I think so. That is something that (Offensive Line) Coach (Andy) Heck and (Assistant Offensive Line) Coach (Corey) Matthaei do a great job (of) emphasizing in OTAs and then taking that to transfer to the season and kind of see where we’re at. You get pullers and gap schemes (and) stuff like that, it’s downhill. We’ve been a zone – midzone, outside zone, inside zone team for a long, long time and that continues. Then, we just want to be able to make sure (that) we’re putting the guys, collectively, in the right spots.”